Downtown Development Overview

[Conan71]

Thanks!  And yes, I know the watches your talking about they are fun. we still have them plus a few more new designs.

I wonder about retail in our downtown. On the one hand I wonder if places like the Brady Arts, Santa Fe and Boxyard will pull all the people to them and leave us in the Deco District as an outlier.  But if I put a positive spin on it, I hope that by having some lively successful retail areas in downtown it will help make downtown in general more of a draw for shopping and help us all out.   But, who knows.  I do know that when I look at my numbers for First Fridays for instance, that Friday is our slowest for everyone goes to that part of downtown.  Who knows what it will be like when we get more areas that will be competing for attention and people.  So yes, you can do everything right, even be exceptional in your own way, but....

Balance with on-line sales!  We've had this conversation, it's a must for a business like yours!

[TheArtist]

Balance with on-line sales!  We've had this conversation, it's a must for a business like yours!

Indeed we are working on doing just that and hopefully will get that underway first of the year.

It took us a while just to find a program that worked with our Quick Books inventory program so that when we sell something online we can keep track both of what we have on hand in the store and whats available to sell online (and what we sell in the store also updates the online availability).   And finding a platform that will help us and the customer with the cost of mailing different weight/size items to different places in the country.  Then we will have to set up a shipping department and have all the  different size boxes, etc. and packing material.  Write up a procedure manual for everything.  Design the website so its attractive (people smiling, pretty pictures and backgrounds) and is user friendly,  products searchable under different categories, nicely pose and photograph and crop/photoshop aaall the items, etc. etc. whew!

Yea definitely waiting till after the chaos of the holidays to do all that.

[davideinstein]

$500 in sales per day to keep a spot in the Thompson Building is absolute steal. No?

[davideinstein]

Balance with on-line sales!  We've had this conversation, it's a must for a business like yours!

Agree with this. Visiting family soon and will buy their gifts from Decopolis. I'd be shopping online right now actually...and I literally work right next door.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Isn't Conan in that business?   I would think for a high visibility, very high profile business here on the forum, they would be interested in a serious advertising opportunity, at low or no cost, for what they do...??   (William, trying to help put the 'touch' on them for some free/cheap software here....)

[TheArtist]

$500 in sales per day to keep a spot in the Thompson Building is absolute steal. No?

I hope so! We shall see!

On those days when all you sell are a few greeting cards, a couple of books and toys, a keychain or two, a poster and a couple t-shirts... means you have to sell a LOT more than that on the other days.  Now if I were selling sandwiches... hmmm... 

The key is getting more people in the doors.  We have a decent "sell rate per person" I think. But not a lot of walk by traffic on that street just yet.

[Conan71]

Indeed we are working on doing just that and hopefully will get that underway first of the year.

It took us a while just to find a program that worked with our Quick Books inventory program so that when we sell something online we can keep track both of what we have on hand in the store and whats available to sell online (and what we sell in the store also updates the online availability).   And finding a platform that will help us and the customer with the cost of mailing different weight/size items to different places in the country.  Then we will have to set up a shipping department and have all the  different size boxes, etc. and packing material.  Write up a procedure manual for everything.  Design the website so its attractive (people smiling, pretty pictures and backgrounds) and is user friendly,  products searchable under different categories, nicely pose and photograph and crop/photoshop aaall the items, etc. etc. whew!

Yea definitely waiting till after the chaos of the holidays to do all that.

MC and I can offer a lot of guidance on setting up shipping.  It doesn't have to own you or be terribly difficult.  I also have a couple of very reliable vendors for shipping supplies. We ship about 400-425 parcels a month so MC has figured out ways to make it simpler.

I would like to also chat with you about the inventory program you are using, we are trying to streamline our inventory management so let's try to get together in the near future.  I'll send you a message.

[TheArtist]

MC and I can offer a lot of guidance on setting up shipping.  It doesn't have to own you or be terribly difficult.  I also have a couple of very reliable vendors for shipping supplies. We ship about 400-425 parcels a month so MC has figured out ways to make it simpler.

I would like to also chat with you about the inventory program you are using, we are trying to streamline our inventory management so let's try to get together in the near future.  I'll send you a message.

Sounds Good!

[davideinstein]

I hope so! We shall see!

On those days when all you sell are a few greeting cards, a couple of books and toys, a keychain or two, a poster and a couple t-shirts... means you have to sell a LOT more than that on the other days.  Now if I were selling sandwiches... hmmm... 

The key is getting more people in the doors.  We have a decent "sell rate per person" I think. But not a lot of walk by traffic on that street just yet.

Walking traffic is down for us this year during the day but it's still slightly growing at night. Day time is the energy business which is boom or bust, but I'm very happy to see walking traffic at night maintaining.

[DowntownDan]

From the BOK Tower, a lot of the lunch crowd goes north now into the Brady and less so south into the Deco District.  Lots of good stuff opening to the north.  The key to continued downtown development will be night time business.  The lunch scene is pretty saturated.

[davideinstein]

From the BOK Tower, a lot of the lunch crowd goes north now into the Brady and less so south into the Deco District.  Lots of good stuff opening to the north.  The key to continued downtown development will be night time business.  The lunch scene is pretty saturated.

In our situation we aren't competing with the people going out to lunch, since our gig is speed/time. I'd like to see a report on just how many jobs have been lost in the past year. Completely agree on the night time business.

[johrasephoenix]

PAC parking lot redevelopment with apartments and Reasor's just got green lighted by the PAC Trust.  The developer can still back out if they don't get subsidized public financing.

I'm surprised the PAC sold it instead of ground leasing but as long as I get my downtown grocery store I'm all good. 

At first I thought "I'll believe it when shovels hit dirt" but it looks like Flaherty & Collins has actually developed a lot of downtown projects in mid-sized cities.  So I have hope that it'll actually happen.

[SXSW]

PAC parking lot redevelopment with apartments and Reasor's just got green lighted by the PAC Trust.  The developer can still back out if they don't get subsidized public financing.

I'm surprised the PAC sold it instead of ground leasing but as long as I get my downtown grocery store I'm all good. 

At first I thought "I'll believe it when shovels hit dirt" but it looks like Flaherty & Collins has actually developed a lot of downtown projects in mid-sized cities.  So I have hope that it'll actually happen.

That's a good first step.  I'm hopeful too.  This and Santa Fe Square are game changing projects for downtown that need to happen to continue building momentum for even more and larger projects. 

[DowntownDan]

The old Folks Market spot has a permit posted for an applicant called "The Oil Can Sports Bar LLC."  Anyone know what that's about?  Is another sports bar coming to downtown?

[DTowner]

That's a good first step.  I'm hopeful too.  This and Santa Fe Square are game changing projects for downtown that need to happen to continue building momentum for even more and larger projects. 

Each by itself is a game changer, if both happen it will be transformative.  Additionally, both happening will really tilt the downtown development wheel to the northeast.